Pages

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

[This post isn't directly related to sci-fi
romance, but I'm betting geek parents might find it of interest. If you prefer an
alternative, check out the blog
tour celebrating the release of Pippa Jay's newest SFR release, TETHERED.
Or catch up with the latest free issue of the Sci-Fi
Romance Quarterly!]

There
has been a great deal of discussion, for many years, about the lack of women in
science and technology and how to fix it. Although I haven't been able to find
any actual studies or surveys on the topic, I'd like to propose a hypothesis:
The lack of women in science and technology begins with a lack of science
fiction when they were young.

Although
mainstream media and pop culture view geek/nerd society as male-dominated,
there’s a long history of female involvement in fandom. Women have played an original
or integral part in significant scientific and technology related
discoveries and inventions that pre-date any organized fandom or science
fiction/comic book related social clubs. Wonder Woman was the first superhero
character created to be a role model for females in comic books. Her first
appearance was in 1941. She was aimed at an existing audience of female comic
book fans. The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction dates the coinage of the
term “fem fan” or “femme fan” as early as 1944.

Both
articles prompted me to reflect on my role not only as a geek woman, but also
as a geek mother. They resonated particularly strongly since I'd recently begun
introducing science fiction stories to my eight-year old daughter. Here's the
rub, though: she's too young for stuff like STAR TREK, STAR WARS, and SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO, likes
stories with humor, and prefers girl protagonists.

So how exactly did I spark
her interest?

It
all started with HeroesCon
in Charlotte, North Carolina. I took her to the 2014 convention last month and
we attended the All Ages Panel. Here's the description:

ALL
AGES PANEL- A HEROESCON TRADITION! KIDS READ COMICS TOO!

Moderator JIMMY AQUINO (COMIC NEWS INSIDER) is joined by MIKE MAIHACK
(Cleopatra in Space), CHRIS SCHWEIZER (the Crogan series), ANDY RUNTON (Owly),
JEREMY WHITELY (My Little Pony), STEPAHNIE GLADDEN (Peanuts) and THOM ZAHLER
(My Little Pony) to talk about their amazing comics. They’ll discuss why they
went into this genre and if there is a difference between “kid’s comics” and
“all-ages comics”.

***

We
went for the MY LITTLE PONY component (my daughter's a big fan!), but
discovered a lot more than expected. It was a terrific panel with an insightful
discussion, including topics such as the rise in popularity of kid comics and
diversity in comics.

At
the 54:33 mark, Mr. Aquino looks at my daughter and asks, "Do you have a
question?" You can hear her in the background saying, "No." LOL!
What can I say, she was busy just taking it all in. In fact, the discussion was
so thorough I didn't have any questions myself. Everyone on the panel was warm and engaging. I'm thrilled my daughter's
first convention panel was such a positive experience.

We
learned about two genre comics with girl protagonists that are geared toward kids her
age, so after the panel we marched straight to the dealer's room and bought Mike Maihack's CLEOPATRA
IN SPACE and Jeremy Whitley's PRINCELESS
(fantasy action-adventure story, but who's counting?). Autographed, too!

Shortly
after the convention, I discovered Ben Hatke's
ZITA THE
SPACEGIRL comic book series thanks to Amazon's "also bought"
feature. How Awesome That My Local Library Carries It! So I scooped 'em up.

Because
CLEOPATRA IN SPACE and ZITA were my daughter's first foray into literary SF, I
asked her if I could read them to her (and also because I was keen to check out
the stories myself!). I'm impressed with the storytelling quality and love,
love, love the fact that these girl heroines have so much agency. They're not
perfect, either--they make mistakes and have to face the consequences. Additionally,
some of the humor is laugh-out-loud funny.

My
daughter has also read a FRANNIE
K. STEIN: MAD SCIENTIST book or two in the past few months and via Amazon
Prime she's currently glomming MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT. It's kind of amazing
how all of these stories came into her life around the same time.

And the really neat part? My daughter is seeing the
connections between the math and science she's learning in school and
the content of the SF stories. Plus, she's excited
about being able to apply her knowledge! Very gratifying.

So that's basically how I introduced my daughter to the glories of science fiction. :)

Are there any
parents out there who'd like to share how they first introduced their daughters
to this genre?

Joyfully
yours,

Heather

Share this post:

About Me: Heather travels the sea of stars for news about science fiction romance. She's also an author in the genre. To get in touch, you can email her, or follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

About Me

Heather’s debut sci-fi romance novel, Once Upon a Time in Space, features the last living descendant of Christopher Columbus on a desperate quest to find a new world. Standing in his way is Raquel, the deadliest space pirate in the galaxy.